SECOND YEAR AND BACK AT BLOGGING

So I have accidentally taken a veryyy long break from my blog. I kind of got caught up in the craziness of second year and lost my mojo a bit but I am back for good and have so many things planned for my blog, specifically taking a beauty direction with a lot of my posts as this is definitely a path i'd like to go down in the future, so be ready to see even more beauty reviews and thoughts! 

Second year so far is 100x better than first year, it is so much more creative as we are doing a lot of print making, book binding and at the moment we are creating a group zine! This is much more me as I am more of a hands on, handmade, creative person who doesn't like to just be stuck at a computer screen all day! technology annoys me haha! We are running many other briefs alongside the zine project such as our self promotion brief. This is helping us discover who we are, what we want to be, how to achieve it and how to show our personality, identity and uniqueness though our work. 

As well as bringing my blog back, I have also started two new Instagram accounts fcpgeorgiacollins (as a portfolio of all my work and inspirations on the course and around me) and georgialewisloves (as a beauty account, reviewing, promoting and advising). My usual Instagram account is still my favourite though and I post regularly on it so I have to give that one a mention too! georgialewisc, please feel free to give them a follow if you want to see what I get up to and what products I am loving at the moment! 

I have also been doing so many extra classes and interesting things alongside my course this year so I want to briefly mention them in future posts. Another exciting thing coming up is two new places I will be visiting! Amsterdam in December and Berlin (with uni) in January! So get ready for the Instagram's and blog posts! I also visited Bali earlier this year so still want to show you all some of the images I took and experiences I had, it was definitely one of the best places I have ever visited in my life so I have to share it with you all!

Thank you for reading,

Love from Georgia

xxx

BACK AT SEWING

Welcome back! Im aware I haven't written a blog post in a good while, I seem to have been a busy bee since finishing and passing first year! (phew). Since choosing to do FCP instead of fashion design at university after my art foundation specialising in fashion textiles, I have REALLY missed sewing and designing. I have almost no time to do it whilst at university so I thought the summer holidays was the perfect time to get sewing again! I have only designed a couple of tops so far, however I would like to carry on sewing a few more and think about selling some- I am a poor student after all! I took inspiration from a few tops I already own and made my own patterns. Seeing the finished result is so rewarding and really reminded me of why I love it so much.

So as you can see, I'm no expert but I am really loving getting back into the swing of things. I'm pretty pleased with what I have made so far and cant wait to carry on and practice slightly more difficult patterns and garments. This is also a great way to basically buy new clothes without spending any money.

I also made this top for my friend for her birthday and she seemed to be very happy with it too. I really like the fabrics I picked, I tried to pick some that were more on trend so the pink gingham and baby blue polka dots were ideal.

I have plenty more ideas for some more tops and clothing to make, I then want to attempt to sell some when I have had a bit more practice, let me know what you think?

Thankyou for reading, 

love from Georgia 

xxx

NTU DEGREE SHOW EXHIBITION

Last week I visited the NTU degree show exhibition (NTUcheckout) to see exactly what we will end up doing in third year! It was encouraging to see all of the different, individual ideas people based their dissertations on, I liked how they weren't all the same and boring. I also loved the whole 'checkout' theme with the supermarket trolleys and receipts being very effective. Whilst looking through everyones portfolios in particular, I was looking at their CV's to see what type of experiences they have each had, this has taught me that I definitely need to get my act together and get some more valuable work experience and internships. This is what made them stand out even more if they had great, interesting CV's.

I was so impressed by some of the completed work with the books they made, it definitely looks like a LOT of hard work but is equally exciting to me. I can't wait to design some of the content and layouts, this is something I hope to improve on in second year as I wouldn't say technology and computers is one of my strengths. I have also learnt that I definitely have to love and be really interested in what my dissertation is based on as it is a lot of work and research into that one idea, I don't want to spend so much time on something I don't find very interesting. 

I am so excited to see how our degree show turns out in third year and to see how much my skills ans ideas have improved! I definitely found this show helpful and it has inspired me for second year already! Bring on the work!

Thankyou for reading,

Love from Georgia

xxx

NOTTINGHAM CONTEMPORARY- WU TSANG

I recently visited the Nottingham contemporary to check out the new exhibition. I wasn't as inspired as I have been before but I did really like one installation piece in particular (and not just because it reminded me of Coco Tang!). The work was titled 'devotion document' and consisted of short films and the neon lights installation piece that I loved. When we asked a worker there what this piece was all about she explained that it was inspired by the lift and writings of Chinese revolutionary poet Qiu Jin, the poem described unconditional love for someone. We also watched the short films which linked in with this piece although if I hadn't of asked one of the workers there about it I wouldn't have known what was going on as much! I'd say this exhibition was worth a visit but it's not one of the best I have seen in the contemporary. I love going there to check the new exhibitions out and it makes it even better how it is free!

Thankyou for reading, 

Love from Georgia

xxx

BRACES ARE COOL

Whilst browsing on the Zara website recently (as per usual), I couldn't help but notice that one of the models had braces and that she was seriously showing them off! Her cheesy grin looked proud, happy and not self conscious at all to be wearing a full set of train tracks, I loved that! As someone that has previously worn (and hated) braces myself, I always found them annoying and they did make me feel self conscious, the last thing I would have done was smiled like that in a photograph for the whole world to see but why the hell not! So many of us wear them and they are completely normal. I love that Zara was showing off braces and is not hiding them like most online brands and photographers do. We are not all perfect, we don't all have naturally straight teeth and that is okay.

The model looks, natural, beautiful and above all happy, this is how everyone should feel and I love that Zara is celebrating this idea.

Thankyou for reading

Love from Georgia 

xxx

NTU FASHION SHOW 2017

I recently watched the Nottingham Trent fashion design degree show and I was amazed at how talented the people are at this uni! I almost did fashion design here but decided against it last minute, I don't know if I am regretting that decision now and am having a change of heart! I miss it!

I took a few images of some of the collections, I didn't manage to photograph them all and it's not the best angle but I just wanted to share my thoughts with you all! From doing fashion design before I know how difficult and stressful it can be so it really made me appreciate the garments even more.

This was on of my favourite collections that I managed to photograph, not only did I love the pastel colour scheme, I loved the unique shapes created. The cuts and detailing in these garments was amazing! I also loved how each person chose their own music, it made it really fun and interesting.

I loved the addition of balloons to this collection, it made it really fun and they matched perfectly with the theme and colours!

Anything with frills, I love!

I really liked how feminine they made this menswear collection, it stood out to me because of this.

I thought this jacket was amazing, how on earth did they make this! It had so much volume.

The babydoll style and pink theme in this collection was right up my street!

I always find the puffer jackets so impressive.

I loved the crazy, bright, bold colours in this collection.

I honestly would buy this coat from a shop (if it wasn't coming into summer of course), the pieces looked so professional.

This collection really reminded me of Noa Raviv.

I remember seeing this gingham puffer jacket being made in the fashion room! It was so lovely seeing it finished and on the catwalk.

I was amazed by this fur coat, I don't understand how it was possible haha!

I didn't get many photos as I was busy admiring them all but I wanted to briefly mention it on my blog as I enjoyed it so much.

Thankyou for reading, 

Love from Georgia 

xxx

BEAUTY REVIEW- MARIO BADESCU ROSE WATER FACIAL SPRAY

Im sure many of you would have seen or used the Mario Badescu rose water by now. It is basically a natural, refreshing hydrating mist for the face. It is apparently for all skin types and is enriched with a blend of herbal and rosewater extracts. It really smells refreshing with a hint of rose which makes me feel really good about spraying it all over my face! It really refreshes and hydrates my skin. I think this product is perfect for the summer season too when you want a refreshing spritz on the skin that adds healthy benefits to the face. I use this before and after makeup, I have found that it makes my makeup go on better and acts as a good setting spray. I can't say enough good things about this facial spray. At only seven pounds I think it is a bargain. I can't wait to try other things out in the range.

I purchased mine from Urban Outfitters but I know that they also sell it on BeautyBay.

Thankyou for reading

Love from Georgia

xxx

MAKEUP REVIEW- TOO FACED NATURAL LOVE PALLET

My most recent makeup purchase is the amazing Too Faced natural love pallet. As soon as I spotted it I instantly knew it was me in a pallet and I had to have it. This is very natural in comparison to my other more recent pallets as they all seem to have bright colours and more mattes. I's say this is the perfect natural pallet for those of you who aren't as confident with trying out bolder, darker shades (however you could easily create some bold, nighttime looks with this too). Below is swatches of each shade, there is a lot of shades in this pallet and they are all reasonably sized. Definitely worth the money!

I do find that some of the shades are very similar (Satin Sheets, Kittens and Cutie Patootie) and they could have changed them up a little bit, however I will still use them all!

From bottom to top: Heaven, Fairy Tale, Nudie, Tickle Me, Don't Settle, Fingers Crossed, Lace Teddy, Satin Sheets, Push-Up, Honey Pot, Chocolate Martini, Undercover.

From bottom to top: Pink Cheeks, Kittens, Bunny Nose, Moonbean, Love Bug, Smokin', Poodle, Cutie Patootie, Dear Diary, Coffee Date, Spoiled, Night Fever, Spotlight, Honey Butter, Honeymoon, Hot & Bothered, Makeup & Chill, Stiletto.

Some of my personal favourite shades are Fairy Tale as it is the most glittery n the pallet and can be used to highlight the inner corner or add a little bit more sparkle to your look! Bunny Nose is probably my all time favourite as I love to wear pink! This shade is very pigmented and creamy with a little bit of shimmer. I find all of these shades so easy to blend. Honeymoon and Hot & Bothered pair really nicely with each other to create a shimmery orange/brown look that doesn't look too much. I haven't really used the matte or super dark shades that much but after testing them out, they all have a strong pigmentation and creamy consistency for a powder. I don't get much fallout overall apart from the most glittery shades (Fairytale, Cutie Patootie, Tickle Me, Honeymoon and Hot & Bothered) although, saying that, those are some of my favourite shades. I hope you found that slightly useful if you were considering buying this pallet, feel free to mention any more I could review.

Thankyou for reading

Love from Georgia

xxx

NETFLIX SERIES- GIRLBOSS

I recently noticed a new Netflix series called 'GIRLBOSS' on my 'recently added' section and was so excited to find that it was in fact all about the one and only girlboss Sophia Amoruso! I am not lying when I say I completed the entire series in three days. I need series two! The series is based on an autobiography (#GIRLBOSS) of Sophia's life which basically runs through how she came about making her company 'Nasty Gal' successful whilst going about her busy, hectic, slightly troubled life! I absolutely loved the series and how it showed us just how rebellious she was (and probably still is!). I thought it was interesting showing us the troubles she had making her little eBay company so massive and successful, it definitely was not easy and it really hits home how much you have to put in to get what you want in life. It seems like she could have given up may times, but she didn't. The series takes us through the whole process of her story, even down to how she found her name 'Nasty Gal!' She seemed to (in the end) know exactly what she wanted but sometimes just struggled with how to get it.

The series was filled with humour with her casual stealing, lack of feelings for other people and just messiness all round with her small, dingy apartment and shitty jobs! I loved seeing the fashion in it with vintage shops appearing all the time. I won't be forgetting the jacket purchased by her in the first episode that seemed to inspire her so much! (She is wearing it in the image above), I think it makes such a statement and just described her personality straight away to me. I don't want to give too much away from the series, you must watch it! Especially if you admire Sophia Amoruso as much as I do!

Thankyou for reading

Love from Georgia

xxx

MAKEUP REVIEW- VIOLET VOSS HOLY GRAIL PALLET

I received this amazing pallet that I have been lusting over for a while for my birthday. I have had it for a while now to try out and let you all know exactly what I thought. I have included swatches to show the true colour payoff and shimmer. This is definitely one of my favourite pallets that I don't think I could live without now! The colours are very on trend with oranges and berry shades and there is a nice mixture of mattes and shimmers so everyone will feel comfortable using it.

I definitely have some favourite shades that I tend to reach for more. I am a shimmery pink lover so this pallet works really well for me! My all time favourite shade is 'So Jelly' purely for the iridescent, easily applied pink colour. This works well on its own as a wash over the lid colour or paired with other shades for a more complete look. I find 'On Fleek', 'Glamping' and 'Cranberry Splash' very similar but very creamy and easy to blend. I use these shades to deepen the shimmer tones in the crease of my eyelids or under the waterline for a more 'smokey' look if I am on a night out or something. 'Transition' is basically an amazing transition colour! perfect to start off the eyes with subtle shading and blending which can then be deepened with darker shades. I really want to experiment with 'Hashtag' more as the orange colour is so in at the moment, however I stick to my pink or gold shades normally, its just slightly out of my comfort zone! 'Cool beans' and 'Toffee' are used a lot too as they are easy to use and can be worn on their own easily if I don't have much time.

Swatches- 'Crystal'-'Wine and dine'.

Thankyou for reading

Love from Georgia 

xxx

POST PRODUCTION EXPERIMENTS

For our current fragrance brand project we all had to create some print adverts for our fragrance brands and after the photoshoot we had to think about what we could do post production wise. My group and brand focused on natural ingredients and wanted to attract the consumers with a healthy, natural, honest and handmade feel so that they could relate better to our brand. So, after a bit of editing and adjusting the contrast and brightness and backgrounds on photoshop we decided to use paint to get our ideas across. One of the girls in my group is amazing at painting so we wanted to use her skills to our advantage! We began painting into the flowers on the image and expanding them. We tried to be really experimental and colourful with our adverts. Below is a few examples of my attempts.

With a few adjustments and adding in of the logos and subheadings we created some quite unique print adverts that I think stand out in comparison to all of the very neat, perfect, slightly boring existing adverts!

Thankyou for reading

Love from Georgia

xxx

MAKEUP REVIEW: ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS 'SWEETS' GLOW KIT

I had been lusting over the 'sweets' glow kit in particular for a while now, purely because of the 'sassy grape' shade. I wanted a pink toned highlighter to match my usually pink, sparkly eyeshadow! I also thought it was different to the usual gold toned highlighters that everyone seems to stick with. I think this particular pallet is perfect for fairer skin tones, particularly with the marshmallow shade as this is extremely light, however the butterscotch and taffy shades are much warmer and perfect for summer or darker skin tones. I have swatched each shade to get an accurate colour representation on my paler skin tone.

So as you can see, these shades are extremely pigmented and give a strong glow/shimmer on the hand. The last shade 'taffy' is much darker than the others and I haven't really reached for it as of yet as it looks too dark for my skin tone, I am excited to use this in summer with a tan though! 'Marshmallow' and 'butterscotch' are classic easy highlighter shades to wear and look good with any makeup look. My favourite shade has to be 'sassy grape' purely because of the unique iridescent pink shade that looks amazing when the light hits it. It really changes my makeup up completely and is much stronger than the other shades. I would also say it is a cooler tone and is more on the silver side (rather than gold).

The packaging (although only paper/cardboard type material) is really sleek and clean. It has a slight shimmer to the colour and the actual size of the products is really good for the money. I completely recommend this glow kit to anyone, I don't seem to reach for any of my other highlighters anymore apart from my Anastasia kits!

Thankyou for reading,

Love from Georgia 

xxx 

PHOTOSHOOT IMAGES FOR OUR HAIR SMOOTHIE MIST

For our fragrance brand project each group has made their own brand and product up. Our brand is called Smooth and is a smoothie hair mist targeting millennial's who want a quick, natural fix to mask unpleasant smells as well as giving the hair added health benefits (much like a fruity smoothie would if we drank it). Our product also has a dial on the side to make the concentration of the scent adjustable and is cruelty free. So thats a very short summary of the concept we have been creating over the last couple of weeks! We recently completed out photoshoot for our brand which focused on the idea of the natural ingredients and the whole idea of a fun, exciting food fight with the props! It got very messy but we were overall SO happy with our final images. We will obviously continue editing the images in post production through photoshop and painting! (more images to follow). Below are some of our favourite images from the shoot.

So as you can see, our shoot was really fun, colourful and active. The fresh fruit, fresh flowers and bright fake flowers were great props and there was plenty of them! The juice from the fruit looked really effective when it was squeezed out and the leaves falling off of the flowers gave it a natural element which we all really liked. The models were amazing, they got stuck right in and didn't moan at all! Not even when we asked them to lie in all of the mess on the floor for the final photo! We asked them all to wear white tops for a pure, natural look and they had minimal makeup on too which was lovely and fitted in really well with the brand. I am very excited to edit all of these now!

Thankyou for reading, 

Love from Georgia

xxx

ALEXANDRA SHULMAN GUEST LECTURE

NTU were lucky enough to have a lecture by current editor in chief of vogue Alexandra Shulman last week at uni. I think everyone in the room was fan-girling big time! My ticket was booked for this event way over a month ago and I had been counting down the days until the day had arrived.

We gained a lot of interesting insights and what her job role was really like! She spoke about how relentless the job was and you never have a sense of achieving something because there is always something else to do and it doesn't stop! However on the 24th June she said she will probably wake up and wonder what on earth she has done! Shulman spoke about her decision to leave her job later on this summer after an amazing 25 years. Its crazy to think that I wasn't even alive when she had started her career at Vogue and her career has laster longer than my lifetime so far! She felt like she had the best final year with the centenary year, having the Duchess of Cambridge on the 100th cover, the BBC documentary and the collaboration with the National Portrait gallery. She talked about it being difficult to work with certain people sometimes but not getting on with people is part of the job. Even the Duchess of Cambridge had her own set ways when she had her shoot, she wanted it to be as natural as possible and not so over the top and royal!

Shulman's love of journalism was clear and this is probably something she will focus on now as she will have more time to herself. She is very proud of her book 'Inside Vogue' and described journalism of a way to tell your own story and how she sees it as a privilege to be able to tell people things. Her role in Vogue however was not to write it, not to style, photograph etc. It is to oversee everything and enable all of the people work together well which is difficult!

Shulman spoke about her own influences with David Bowie being one of them. His death had a massive impact on her as she grew up listening to him and his music. At the age of 14-15 music helps to form our identity and this is what Bowie did to Shulman, he was an influencer without trying and we all have our own influences. The issue dedicated to Bowie showing Kate Moss is one of her favourites.

When someone questioned her on fictional portrayals of the fashion industry and brought up films like 'The Devil wears Prada' she said that it is a difficult industry to fictionalise, you can't make up anything that is better than the reality- this made me even more excited for future jobs I may have in the ever so exciting and competitive fashion industry!

Shulman described her own style as 'schizophrenic' and also spoke about how Edward will do when she has gone. Her own take on Vogue is very British and many people notice this, however Edward has been working in America, he has a lot of interest in diversity and is very into styling, this is something he is apparently very good at. Things will change but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Thankou for reading,

Love from Georgia

xxx